Avoiding Death

The most prevalent theme of the book is that of avoiding death. This begins with Alobar when he first sees the grey hair. One of his wives has to help him in his deception so that he isn't killed, since the custom in his kingdom is to kill the king at the first sign of age. She feeds him an egg with a drug in it instead of poison and digs him up from his grave to revive him. Then he is free and leaves the area.

When he is with the Christians he is dubbed King of the Bean. He has anything he wants for twelve days. At the end of this period, his throat is to be slashed. He talks to the shaman of the situation and tells him of his past. The shaman tells him to travel to the east. Rather than be killed...